Letters

Chairmen Hastings and Lamborn Letter to Secretary Salazar Reiterating Requests for Documents Related to the Rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule, Sets New Deadline

WASHINGTON, D.C.,
July 18, 2011 -

Dear Mr. Secretary:

As you are aware, the Committee on Natural Resources (Committee) is actively investigating issues surrounding the Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) rewrite of the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule (Rule). Through series of letters to the OSM and the Department of the Interior (DOI), the Committee has requested information and documents relating to the revision of the Rule and the economic impact of the Rule. Under the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee has general and continuing oversight and investigative authority over the subject matter of the activities, policies, and programs of DOI. DOI has the responsibility and obligation to be responsive to requests for information from this Committee so it can fulfill its Constitutional oversight duties. While some limited information and documents have been produced and DOI has made representations to Committee staff about forthcoming productions of documents, DOI has largely failed to provide a written response to a number of requests. This failure to comply is all the more troubling as DOI continues to aggressively pursue a rewrite of this regulation.

Specifically, DOI has failed to provide the Committee a written response for the following items as requested by letter dated February 10, 2011, to OSM: